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THE YEARS BETWEEN 



Books by Rudyard Kipling 


' Actions and Reactions 


Light That Failed, The 


Brushwood Boy, The 


Many Inventions 


Captains Courageous 


Naulahka, The (With 


Collected Verse 


Wolcott Balestier) 


t)AY's Work, The 


Plain Tales From xnfc; 


Departmental Ditties 


Hills 


AND Ballads and Rar- 


Puck of Pook's Hill 


RACK-RooM Ballads 


Rewards and Fairies 


Diversity of Creatures, 


Sea to Sea, From 


A 


Sea Warfare 


Eyes of Asia, The 


Seven Seas, The 


Five Nations, The 


Soldier Stories 


France at War 


Soldiers Three, The 


History of England, A 


Story of the Gadsbys, 


Jungle Book, The 


and In Black and 


Jungle Book, Second 


White 


Just So Song Book 


Song of the'English,The 


Just So Stories 
Kim 


Songs From Books 


Stalky & Co. 


Kipling Stories and 


They 


Poems Every Child 


Traffics and Discover- 


Should Know 


ies 


Kipling Birthday Book, 


Under the Deodars, The 


The 


Phantom 'Rickshaw, 


Life's Handicap: Being 


AND Wee Willie Win- 


Stories of Mine Own 


kle 


People 


With the Night Mail , / 



The Years Between 



By Rudyard Kipling 



«^>. 




^# 




GARDEN CITY NEW YORK 
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 

1 9 I 9 









Copyright, 1904, 1905, 1907, 1909, 1910, 191 1, 

1912, 1913, 1914, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919 

By RuDYARD Kipling 

AM rights reserved, including that of 

translation into foreign languages, 

including the Scandinavian 



'CI.A5152^2 

APR 14 1919 



TO THE SEVEN WATCHMEN 

Seven watchmen sitting in a tower, 

Watching what had come upon mankind, 
Showed the Man the Glory and the Power, 

And bade him shape the Kingdom to his mind. 
'All things on Earth your will shall win you.' 

( 'Twas so their counsel ran) 
'But the Kingdom — the Kingdom is within you,' 

Said the Man's own mind to the Man. 
For time, and some time — 
As it was in the bitter years before 

So it shaU be in the over-sweetened hour — 
That a man's mind is wont to tell him more 

Than Seven Watchmen sitting in a tower. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Benefactors, The 92 

Choice, The ........... 34 

'City of Brass, The* 144 

Covenant, The 12 

Craftsman, The 87 

Dead King, The 96 

Death-bed, A 102 

Declaration of London, The . , o . 7 

Dedication . . v 

En-dor 53 

Epitaphs 131 

Female of the Species, The 124 

'For All We Have and Are' .... 20 

France 14 

Gehazi , 105 



vu 



viii CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Gethsemane 8i 

Holy War, The. 37 

Houses, The 41 

HYi£NAS, The 66 

Justice 151 

Irish Guards, The 46 

Lord Roberts . 30 

Mary's Son 77 

Mesopotamia 63 

My Boy Jack . 59 

Nativity, A 50 

Natural Theology 117 

Oldest Song, The 115 

Outlaws, The 26 

Pilgrim's Way, A iio 

Pro-consuls, The 83 

Question, The 32 

Recantation, A « o 56 

Rowers, The .0 3 

Russl\ to the Pacifists 43 



CONTENTS ix 

PAGE 

Song at Cock-crow, A 121 

Song in Storm, A 23 

Song of the Lathes, The 78 

Sons of Martha, The. ...... 73 

Spies' March, The 68 

Things and the Man ...... 89 

Ulster 9 

Verdicts, The . „ 61 

Veterans, The 6 

Virginity, The 108 

Zion 28 



INDEX TO FIRST LINES 

PAGE 

Across a world where all men grieve 151 

^. 'I was a "have." ' 5. * I was a "have-not"' . . 131 

After the burial parties leave 66 

Ah! What avails the classic hent 92 

A tinker out of Bedford 37 

Be well assured that on our side 23 

Brethren, how shall it fare with me 32 

BroTic to every known mischance, lifted over all ... 14 

For all we have and are 2e 

God rest you, peaceful gentlemen, let nothing you 
dismay 43 

* Have you news of my boy Jack? ' 59 

He passed in the very battle-smoke 30 

I ate my fill of a whale that died 117 

I do not look for holy saints to guide me on my way . . no 

If you stop to find out what your wages will be . . . 77 
In a land that the sand overlays — the ways to her gates are 

untrod 144 



xii INDEX TO FIRST LINES 

FACE 

Not in the thick of the fight 6i 

Oh ye who hold the written clue 89 

Once, after long-drawn revel at The Mermaid ... 87 

The Babe was laid in the Manger 50 

The banked oars fell an hundred strong 3 

The dark eleventh hour 9 

The Doorkeepers of Zion 28 

The fans and the beltings they roar round me . . . 78 

The first time that Peter denied his Lord 121 

The Garden called Gethsemane 81 

The overjaithjul sword returns the user ...... 83 

There are no leaders to lead us to honour, and yet without 

leaders we sally . 68 

The road to En-dor is easy to tread 53 

These were never your true love's eyes 115 

The sons of Mary seldom bother, for they have inherited 

that good part 73 

They shall not return to us, the resolute, the young . . 63 

'This is the State above the Law' 102 

To-day, across our fathers' graves 6 

To the Jtidge of Right and Wrong ....... 34 

Through learned and laborious years 26 

Try as he will, no man breaks wholly loose .... 108 

'Twixt my house and thy house the pathway is broad . 41 

We're not so old in the Army List 46 

We thought we ranked above the chance of ill . . . 12 



INDEX TO FIRST LINES xui 

PAGE 

We were all one heart and one race 7 

What boots it on the Gods to call? 56 

'Whence comest thou, Gehazi' 105 

When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his 

pride 124 

Who in the Realm to-day lays down dear life for the sake of 

a land more dear ? 96 



THE YEARS BETWEEN 



THE ROWERS 

1902 

(When Gennany proposed that England should help her in a 
naval demonstration to collect debts from Venezuela.) 

The banked oars fell an hundred strong, 
And backed and threshed and ground, 

But bitter was the rowers' song 
As they brought the war-boat round. 

They had no heart for the rally and roar 
That makes the whale-bath smoke — 

When the great blades cleave and hold and leave 
As one on the racing stroke. 

They sang: — 'What reckoning do you keep, 

And steer by her what star, 
If we come unscathed from the Southern deep 

To be wrecked on a Baltic bar? 



4 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

' Last night you swore our voyage was done, 

But seaward still we go. 
And you tell us now of a secret vow 

You have made with an open foe! 



*That we must lie off a lightless coast 

And haul and back and veer, 
At the will of the breed that have wronged us most 

For a year and a year and a year ! 



* There was never a shame in Christendie 

They laid not to our door — 
And you say we must take the winter sea 

And sail with them once more? 



*Look South! The gale is scarce o'erpast 
That stripped and laid us down, 

When we stood forth but they stood fast 
And prayed to see us drown. 



THE ROWERS 

'Our dead they mocked are scarcely cold, 

Our wounds are bleeding yet — 
And you tell us now that our strength is sold 

To help them press for a debt ! 



* 'Neath all the flags of all mankind 

That use upon the seas, 
Was there no other fleet to find 

That you strike hands with these? 



*0f evil times that men can choose 

On evil fate to fall. 
What brooding Judgment let you loose 

To pick the worst of all? 

'In sight of peace — from the Narrow Seas 

O'er half the world to run— 
With a cheated crew, to league anew 

With the Goth and the shameless Hun!' 



THE VETERANS 

(Written for the gathering of survivors of the Indian Mutiny, 
Albert Hall, 1907.) 

To-day, across our fathers' graves, 

The astonished years reveal 
The remnant of that desperate host 

Which cleansed our East with steel. 



Hail and farewell! We greet you here, 
With tears that none will scorn — 

O Keepers of the House of old, 
Or ever we were born! 

One service more we dare to ask — 

Pray for us, heroes, pray, 
That when Fate lays on us our task 

We do not shame the Day! 



THE DECLARATION OF LONDON 

JUNE 29, 191 1 

('On the re-assembling of Parliament after the Coronation, the 
Government have no intention of allowing their followers 
to vote according to their convictions on the Declaration 
of London, but insist on a strictly party vote.' — Daily 
Papers.) 

We were all one heart and one race 

When the Abbey trumpets blew. 
For a moment's breathing-space 

We had forgotten you. 
Now you return to your honoured place 
V Panting to shame us anew. 

We have walked with the Ages dead— 

With our Past alive and ablaze. 
And you bid us pawn our honour for bread, 

This day of all the days! 
7 



THE YEARS BETWEEN 

And you cannot wait till our guests are sped, 
Or last week's wreath decays? 

The light is still in our eyes 

Of Faith and Gentlehood, 
Of Service and Sacrifice; 

And it does not match our mood, 
To turn so soon to your treacheries 

That starve our land of her food. 

Our ears still carry the sound 

Of our once Imperial seas, 
Exultant after our King was crowned, 

Beneath the sun and the breeze. 
It is too early to have them bound 

Or sold at your decrees. 

Wait till the memory goes, 

Wait till the visions fade, 
We may betray in time, God knows, 

But we would not have it said, 
When you make report to our scornful foes. 

That we kissed as we betrayed! 



y^ 



ULSTER 
1912 



('Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they 
cover themselves with their works: their works are works 
of iniquity and the act of violence is in their hands.' — 
Isaiah lix. 6.) 

The dark eleventh hour 

Draws on and sees us sold , 

To every evil power 

We fought against of old. 

Rebellion, rapine, hate. 

Oppression, wrong and greed 

Are loosed to rule our fate, 

By England's act and deed. 

The Faith in which we stand, 
The laws we made and guard, 
9 



TO THE YEARS BETWEEN 

Our honour, lives, and land 
Are given for reward 
To Murder done by night, 
To Treason taught by day, 
To folly, sloth, and spite, 
And we are thrust away. 

The blood our fathers spilt, 
Our love, our toils, our pains, 
Are counted us for guilt, 
And only bind our chains. 
Before an Empire's eyes 
The traitor claims his price. 
What need of further lies? 
We are the sacrifice. 

We asked no more than leave 
To reap where we had sown, 
Through good and ill to cleave 
To our own flag and throne. 



ULSTER II 

Now England's shot and steel 
Beneath that flag must show- 
How loyal hearts should kneel 
To England's oldest foe. 

We know the war prepared 
On every peaceful homC; 
We know the hells declared 
For such as serve not Rome — 
The terror, threats, and dread 
In market, hearth, and field — 
We know, when all is said, 
We perish if we yield. 

Believe, we dare not boast, 
Believe, we do not fear — 
We stand to pay the cost 
In all that men hold dear. 
What answer from the North? 
One Law, one Land, one Throne. 
If England drive us forth 
We shall not fall alone. 



THE COVENANT 

1914 

We thought we ranked above the chance of ill. 

Others might fall, not we, for we were wise — 
Merchants in freedom. So, of our free-will 

We let our servants drug our strength with lies. 
The pleasure and the poison had its way 

On us as on the meanest, till we learned 
That he who lies will steal, who steals will slay. 

Neither God's judgment nor man's heart was 
turned. 

Yet there remains His Mercy — to be sought 
Through wrath and peril till we cleanse the wrong 
By that last right which our forefathers claimed 



THE COVENANT 13 

When their Law failed them and its stewards were 

bought. 
This is our cause. God help us, and make strong 
Our wills to meet Him later, unashamed! 



FRANCE 

1913 

Broke to every known mischance^ lifted over all 
By the light sane joy of life^ the buckler of the Gaul; 
Furious in luxury , merciless in toil, 
Terrible with strength that draws from her tireless soil; 
Strictest judge of her own worth, gentlest of man^s 

mind, 
First to follow Truth and last to leave old Truths 

behind — 
France, beloved of every soul that loves its fellow-kind I 

Ere our birth (rememberest thou?) side by side we 

lay 

Fretting in the womb of Rome to begin our fray. 

14 



FRANCE 15 

Ere men knew our tongues apart, our one task was 

known — 
Each must mould the other's fate as he wrought 

his own. 
To this end we stirred mankind till all Earth was 

ours, 
Till our world-end strifes begat wayside thrones 

and powers — 
Puppets that we made or broke to bar the other's 

path — 
Necessary, outpost folk, hirelings of our wrath. 
To this end we stormed the seas, tack for tack, and 

burst 
Through the doorways of new worlds, doubtful 

which was first, 
Hand on hilt (rememberest thou?) ready for the 

blow — 
Sure, whatever else we met, we should meet our foe. 
Spurred or baulked at every stride by the other's 

strength, 
So we rode the ages down and every ocean's length! 



i6 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

Where did you refrain from us or we refrain from 

you? 
Ask the wave that has not watched war between 

us two! 
Others held us for a while, but with weaker charms, 
These we quitted at the call for each other's 

arms. 
Eager toward the known dehght, equally we strove — 
Each the other's mystery, terror, need, and love. 
To each other's open court with our proofs we 

came. 
Where could we find honour else, or men to test 

our claim? 
From each other's throat we wrenched — valour's 

last reward — 
That extorted word of praise gasped 'twixt lunge 

and guard. 
In each other's cup we poured mingled blood and 

tears, 
Brutal joys, unmeasured hopes, intolerable fears — 
All that soiled or salted Ufe for a thousand years. 



FRANCE itj 

Proved beyond the need of proof, matched in every 

dime, 
O companion, we have Hved greatly through all 

time! 



Yoked in knowledge and remorse, now we come to 

rest, 
Laughing at old villainies that Time has turned to 

jest; 
Pardoning old necessities no pardon can efface — 
That undying sin we shared in Rouen market-place. 
Now we watch the new years shape, wondering if 

they hold 
Fiercer Hghtnings in their heart than we launched 

of old. 
Now we hear new voices rise, question, boast or gird. 
As we raged (rememberest thou?) when our crowds 

were stirred. 
Now we count new keels afloat, and new hosts on 

land, 



i8 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

Massed like ours (rememberest thou?) when our 

strokes were planned. 
We were schooled for dear life's sake, to know each 

other's blade. 
What can blood and iron make more than we have 

made? 
We have learned by keenest use to know each 

other's mind. 
What shall blood and iron loose that we cannot 

bind? 
We who swept each other's coast, sacked each 

other's home, 
Since the sword of Brennus clashed on the scales 

at Rome 
Listen, count and close again, wheehng girth to 

girth, 
In the linked and steadfast guard set for peace on 

earth 1 

Broke to every known mischance, lifted over all 
By the Hght sane joy of life, the buckler of the Gaul; 



FIL\NCE 19 

Furious in luxury, merciless in toil, 

Terrible with strength renewed from a tireless soil; 

Strictest judge of her own worth, gentlest of man's 

mind, 
First to face the Truth and last to leave old Truths 

behind — 
France, beloved of every soul that loves or serves its 

kind! 



*FOR ALL WE HAVE AND ARE' 

1914 

For all we have and are, 

For all our children's fate, 

Stand up and take the war, 

The Hun is at the gate ! 

Our world has passed away, 

In wantonness o'erthrown. 

There is nothing left to-day 

But steel and fire and stone! 

Though all we knew depart. 

The old Commandments stand: — 

' In courage keep your heart, 

In strength lift up your hand.' 
20 



'FOR ALL WE HAVE AND ARE' 

Once more we hear the word 
That sickened earth of old: — 
'No law except the Sword 
Unsheathed and uncontrolled.' 
Once more it knits mankind, 
Once more the nations go 
To meet and break and bind 
A crazed and driven foe. 

Comfort, content, delight, 

The ages' slow-bought gain, 

They shrivelled in a night. 

Only ourselves remain 

To face the naked days 

In silent fortitude, 

Through perils and dismays 

Renewed and re-renewed. 

Though all we made depart, 
The old Commandments stand: — 
'In patience keep your heart. 
In strength lift up your hand.' 



21 



22 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

No easy hope or lies 
Shall bring us to our goal, 
But iron sacrifice 
Of body, will, and soul. 
There is but one task for aU- 
One life for each to give. 
Who stands if Freedom fall? 
Who dies if England live? 



A SONG IN STORM 

Be well assured that on our side 

The abiding oceans fight, 
Though headlong wind and heaping tide 

Make us their sport to-night. 
By force of weather not of war 

In jeopardy we steer, 
Then welcome Fate's discourtesy 
Whereby it shall appear, 
How in all time of our distress, 
And our deliverance too, 
The game is more than the player of the game, 
And the ship is more than the crew. 

Out of the mist into the mirk 

The glimmering combers roll. 
Almost these mindless waters work 

As though they had a soul — 

2S 



24 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

Almost as though they leagued to whelm 
Our flag beneath their green: 

Then welcome Fate's discourtesy 
Whereby it shall be seen, etc. 

Be well assured, though wave and wind 

Have weightier blows in store, 
That we who keep the watch assigned 

Must stand to it the more; 
And as our streaming bows rebuke 

Each billow's baulked career, 
Sing, welcome Fate's discourtesy 

Whereby it is made clear, etc. 

No matter though our deck be swept 

And masts and timber crack — 
We can make good all loss except 

The loss of turning back. 
So, 'twixt these Devils and our deep 

Let courteous trumpets sound, 
To welcome Fate's discourtesy 

Whereby it will be found, etc. 



A SONG IN STORM 25 

Be well assured, though in our power 

Is nothing left to give 
But chance and place to meet the hour, 

And leave to strive to live, 
Till these dissolve our Order holds, 

Our Service binds us here. 
Then welcome Fate's discourtesy 
Whereby it is made clear, 
How in all time of our distress, 
And in our triumph too. 

The game is more than the player of the game, 
And the ship is more than the crew! 



THE OUTLAWS 

1914 

Through learned and laborious years 

They set themselves to find 
Fresh terrors and undreamed-of fears 

To heap upon mankind. 

All that they drew from Heaven above 
Or digged from earth beneath, 

They laid into their treasure-trove 
And arsenals of death: 

While, for well-weighed advantage sake, 

Ruler and ruled alike 
Built up the faith they meant to break 

When the fit hour should strike. 
26 



THE OUTLAWS 27 

They traded with the careless earth, 

And good return it gave; 
They plotted by their neighbour's hearth 

The means to make him slave. 



When all was ready to their hand 
They loosed their hidden sword, 

And utterly laid waste a land 
Their oath was pledged to guard. 



Coldly they went about to raise 
To life and make more dread 

Abominations of old days. 
That men believed were dead. 



They paid the price to reach their goal 

Across a world in flame; 
But their own hate slew their own soul 

Before that victory came. 



ZION 

The Doorkeepers of Zion, 

They do not always stand 
In helmet and whole armour, 

With halberds in their hand; 
But, being sure of Zion, 

And all her mysteries, 
They rest awhile in Zion, 
Sit down and smile in Zion; 
Ay, even jest in Zion; 

In Zion, at their ease. 

The Gatekeepers of Baal, 

They dare not sit or lean, 
But fume and fret and posture 

And foam and curse between; 

28 



ZION 

For being bound to Baal, 

Whose sacrifice is vain, 
Their rest is scant with Baal, 
They glare and pant for Baal, 
They mouth and rant for Baal, 

For Baal in their pain! 

But we will go to Zion, 

By choice and not through dread. 
With these our present comrades 

And those our present dead; 
And, being free of Zion 

In both her fellowships, 
Sit down and sup in Zion — 
Stand up and drink in Zion 
Whatever cup in Zion 

Is offered to our hps! 



29 



LORD ROBERTS 
1914 

He passed in the very battle-smoke 
Of the war that he had descried. 

Three hundred mile of cannon spoke 
When the Master- Gunner died. 

He passed to the very sound of the guns; 

But, before his eye grew dim, 
He had seen the faces of the sons 

Whose sires had served with him. 



He had touched their sword-hilts and greeted each 

With the old sure word of praise; 

And there was virtue in touch and speech 

As it had been in old days. 

30 



LORD ROBERTS 31 

So he dismissed them and took his rest, 
And the steadfast spirit went forth 

Between the adoring East and West 
And the tireless guns of the North. 

Clean, simple, valiant, well-beloved, 

Flawless in faith and fame. 
Whom neither ease nor honours moved 

An hair's-breadth from his aim. 



Never again the war-wise face, 
The weighed and urgent word 

That pleaded in the market-place — 
Pleaded and was not heard ! 



Yet from his life a new life springs 
Through all the hosts to come. 

And Glory is the least of things 
That follow this man home. 



THE QUESTION 
1916 

Brethren, how shall it fare with me 
When the war is laid aside, 

If it be proven that I am he 
For whom a world has died? 



If it be proven that all my good, 
And the greater good I will make, 

Were purchased me by a multitude 
Who suffered for my sake? 

That I was delivered by mere mankind 

Vowed to one sacrifice. 

And not, as I hold them, battle-blind, 

But dying with open eyes? 
32 



THE QUESTION 33 

That they did not ask me to draw the sword 
When they stood to endure their lot — 

That they only looked to me for a word, 
And I answered I knew them not? 



If it be found, when the battle clears, 

Their death has set me free, 
Then how shall I live with myself through the 
years 

Which they have bought for me? 



Brethren, how must it fare with me, 

Or how am I justified, 
If it be proven that I am he 

For whom mankind has died 
If it be proven that I am he 

Who being questioned denied? 



' THE CHOICE 

1917 

(the AMERICAN SPIRIT SPEAKS) 

To the Judge of Right and Wrong 
With Whom fulfilment lies 

Our purpose and our power belong. 
Our faith and sacrifice. 

Let Freedom's Land rejoice! 

Our ancient bonds are riven; 
Once more to us the eternal choice 

Of Good or 111 is given. 

Not at a little cost, 

Hardly by prayer or tears, 
Shall we recover the road we lost 

In the drugged and doubting years. 

34 



THE CHOICE 35 

But, after the fires and the -^Tath, 

But, after searching and pain. 
His Mercy opens us a path 
! To Hve with ourselves again. 

In the Gates of Death rejoice! 

We see and hold the good — 
Bear witness, Earth, we have made our choice 

With Freedom's brotherhood! 



' Then praise the Lord Most High 

Whose Strength hath saved us whole, 
WHio bade us choose that the Flesh should die 
And not the living Soul! 



To the God in Man displayed — 
Where e^er we see that Birth, 

Be love and understanding paid 
As nrcer vet on earth ! 



36 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

To the Spirit that moves in Man^ 
On Whom all worlds depeitd. 

Be Glory since our world began 
And service to the end I 



THE HOLY WAR 

1917 

C For here lay the excellent wisdom of him that built Mansoul, 
that the walls could never be broken down nor hurt by the 
most mighty adverse potentate unless the townsmen gave 
consent thereto.'— Bunyan's Holy War.) 

A TINKER out of Bedford, 

A vagrant oft in quod, 
A private under Fairfax, 

A minister of God — 
Two hundred years and thirty 

Ere Armageddon came 
His single hand portrayed it. 

And Bunyan was his name ! 

He mapped, for those who follow, 
The world in which we are — 

*This famous town of Mansoul' 
That takes the Holy War. 

37 



38 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

Her true and traitor people, 
The gates along her wall, 

From Eye Gate unto Feel Gate, 
John Bunyan showed them all. 

All enemy divisions. 

Recruits of every class. 
And highly-screened positions 

For flame or poison-gas; 
The craft that we call modern. 

The crimes that we call new, 
John Bunyan had 'em typed and filed 

In Sixteen Eighty-two. 

Likewise the Lords of Looseness 

That hamper faith and works. 
The Perseverance-Doubters, 

And Present-Comfort shirks. 
With brittle intellectuals 

Who crack beneath a strain — 
John Bunyan met that helpful set 

In Charles the Second's reign. 



THE HOLY WAR ^g 

Emmanuers vanguard dying 

For right and not for rights, 
My Lord ApoUyon lying 

To the State-kept Stockholmites, 
The Pope, the swithering Neutrals, 

The Kaiser and his Gott — 
Their roles, their goals, their naked 
souls — 

He knew and drew the lot. 

Now he hath left his quarters 

In Bunhill Fields to lie, 
The wisdom that he taught us 

Is proven prophecy — 
One watchword through our armies, 

One answer from our lands: — 
*No deaHngs with Diabolus 

As long as Mansoul stands!' 

A pedlar from a hovel. 
The lowest of the low. 



40 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

The father of the Novell 
Salvation's first Defoe, 

Eight blinded generations 
Ere Armageddon came. 

He showed us how to meet it. 
And Bunyan was his itame I 



THE HOUSES 
(a song of the dominions) 

1898 

'TwiXT my house and thy house the pathway is 

broad, 
In thy house or my house is half the world's hoard; 
By my house and thy house hangs all the world's 

fate, 
On thy house and my house lies half the world's 

hate. 



For my house and thy house no help shall we find 

Save thy house and my house — kin cleaving to 

kind: 

If my house be taken, thine tumbleth anon, 

If thy house be forfeit, mine followeth soon. 

41 



42 TliE YE.\RS BETWEEN 

'Twixt my house and thy house what talk can 

there be ^ . 

Of headship or lordship, or service or fee? 
Since my house to thy house no greater can send 
Than thy house to my house — friend comforting 

friend; 
And thy house to my house no meaner can bring 
Than my house to thy house — King counselling 
King. 



RUSSIA TO THE PACIFISTS 

God rest you, peaceful gentlemen, let nothing you 

dismay, 
But — leave your sports a little while — the dead are 

borne this way! 
Armies dead and Cities dead, past all count or care. 
God rest you, merry gentlemen, what portent see 
3^ou there? 

Singing: — Break ground for a wearied host 
That have no ground to keep. 
Give them the rest that they covet 

most . o . 
And who shall next to sleep, good sirs, 
In such a trench to sleep? 

God rest you, peaceful gentlemen, but give us 

leave to pass. 
We go to dig a nation's grave as great as England 

was. 

43 



44 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

For this Kingdom and this Glory and this Power 

and this Pride 
Three hundred years it flourished — in three hundred 
days it died. 

Singing: — Pour oil for a frozen throng, 
That lie about the ways. 
Give them the warmth they have lacked 

so long . . . 
And what shall be next to blaze, good 

sirs, 
On such a pyre to blaze? 

God rest you, thoughtful gentlemen, and send your 

sleep is light! 
Remains of this dominion no shadow, sound, or sight, 
Except the sound of weeping and the' sight of burn- 
ing fire. 
And the shadow of a people that is trampled into 
mire. 

Singing: — Break bread for a starving folk 
That perish in the field. 



RUSSIA TO THE PACIFISTS 45 

Give them their food as they take the 

yoke . . . 
And who shall be next to yield, good 

sirs, 
For such a bribe to yield? 

God rest you, merry gentlemen, and keep you in 

your mirth! 

Was ever kingdom turned so soon to ashes, blood, 

and earth? 

'Twixt the summer and the snow — seeding-time and 

frost — 

Arms and victual, hope and counsel, name and 

country lost 1 

Singing: — Let down by the foot and the head — 

Shovel and smooth it all ! 

So do we bury a Nation dead . . . 

And who shall be next to fall, good 
sirs, 

With your good help to fall? 



THE IRISH GUARDS 
1918 

We're not so old in the Army List, 

But we're not so young at our trade, 

For we had the honour at Fontenoy 

Of meeting the Guards' Brigade, 

'Twas Lally, Dillon, Bulkeley, Clare, 

And Lee that led us then, 

And after a hundred and seventy years 

We're fighting for France again! 

Old Days ! The wild geese are flighting, 

Head to the storm as they faced it before I 

For where there are Irish there's bound to be 

fighting, 

And when there^s no fighting, ifs Ireland no more I 

Ireland no more ! 
46 



THE IRISH GUARDS 47 

The fashion's all for khaki now, 

But once through France we went 
Full-dressed in scarlet Army cloth, 

The Enghsh— left at Ghent. 
They're fighting on our side to-day 

But, before they changed their clothes, 
The half of Europe knew our fame, 
As all of Ireland knows! 
Old Days I The wild geese are flying ^ 

Head to the storm as they faced it before ! 
For where there are Irish there's memory undying, 
And when we forget, it is Ireland no more I 

Ireland no more ! 



From Barry Wood to Gouzeaucourt, 
From Boyne to Pilkem Ridge, 

The ancient days come back no more 
Than water under the bridge. 



48 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

But the bridge it stands and the water runs 

As red as yesterday, 
And the Irish move to the sound of the guns 
Like salmon to the sea. 
Old Days I The wild geese are rangingy 

Head to the storm as they faced it before ! 
For where there are Irish their hearts are Ufi' 
changing, 
And when they are changed, it is Ireland no 
more I 

Ireland no more ! 



We're not so old in the Army List, 

But we're not so new in the ring, 
For we carried our packs with Marshal Saxe 

When Louis was our King. 
But Douglas Haig's our Marshal now 

And we're King George's men, 
And after one hundred and seventy years 

We're fighting for France again! 



THE IRISH GUARDS 49 

Ah, France ! And did we stand by you, 

When life was made splendid with gifts and 
rewards ? 
Ah, France ! And will we deny you 

In the hour of your agony, Mother of Swords ? 
Old Days ! The wild geese are flighting, 

Head to the storm as they faced it before ! 
For where there are Irish there's loving and 

fighting. 
And when ive stop either, ifs Ireland no more ! 

Ireland no more I 



A NATIVITY 

1916 

The Babe was laid in the Manger 

Between the gentle kine — 
All safe from cold and danger — 

'But it was not so with mine. 

(With mine! With mine!) 
' Is it well with the child, is it well? ' 

The waiting mother prayed. 
' For I know not how he fell, 

And I know not where he is laid.' 

A Star stood forth in Heaven; 

The watchers ran to see 
The Sign of the Promise given — 
'But there comes no sign to me. 

(Tome! Tome!) 
50 



A NATIVITY SI 

*My child died in the dark. 

Is it well with the child, is it well? 
There was none to tend him or mark, 

And I know not how he fell.' 



The Cross was raised on high; 

The Mother grieved beside — 
'But the Mother saw Him die 

And took Him when He died. 

(He died! He died!) 
* Seemly and undefiled 

His burial-place was made — 
Is it well, is it well with the child? 

For I know not where he is laid.' 



On the dawning of Easter Day 

Comes Mary Magdalene; 
But the Stone was rolled away, 

And the Body was not within — 

(Within! Within!) 



52 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

' Ah, who will answer my word? ' 

The broken mother prayed. 
^They have taken away my Lord, 

And I know not where He is laid.' 

^The Star stands forth in Heaven. 

The watchers watch in vain 
For a Sign of the Promise given 

Of peace on Earth again — 

(Again! Again 1) 

'But I know for Whom he fell' — 
The steadfast mother smiled, 

* Is it well with the child — is it well? 
It is well — it is well with the child!* 



EN-DOR 

('Behold there is a woman that hath a famUiar spirit at En- 
dor.' — I Samuel xxviii. 7.) 

The road to En-dor is easy to tread 

For Mother or yearning Wife, 
There, it is sure, we shall meet our Dead 

As they were even in life. 
Earth has not dreamed of the blessing in store 
For desolate hearts on the road to En-dor. 



Whispers shall comfort us out of the dark — 

Hands — ah God! — that we knew! 
Visions and voices — look and heark! — 

Shall prove that our tale is true, 
And that those who have passed to the further 

shore 
May be hailed — at a price — on the road to En-dor. 

S2> 



54 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

But they are so deep in their new ecHpse 

Nothing they say can reach, 
Unless it be uttered by aHen Hps 

And framed in a stranger's speech. 
The son must send word to the mother that bore, 
Through an hirehng's mouth. 'Tis the rule of 
En-dor. 



And not for nothing these gifts are shown 

By such as delight our dead. 
They must twitch and stiffen and slaver and groan 

Ere the eyes are set in the head, 
And the voice from the belly begins. Therefore, 
We pay them a wage where they ply at En-dor. 



Even so, we have need of faith 
And patience to follow the clue. 

Often, at first, what the dear one saith 
Is babble, or jest, or untrue. 



EN-DOR 55 

(L3dng spirits perplex us sore 
Till our loves — and our lives — are well-known at 
En-dor). . . . 

Oh the road to En-dor is the oldest road 

And the craziest road of all ! 
Straight it runs to the Witches abode, 

As it did in the days of Saul, 
And nothing has changed of the sorrow in store 
For such as go down on the road to En-dor I 



A RECANTATION 

(to lyde of the music halls) 

What boots it on the Gods to call? 

Since, answered or unheard, 
We perish with the Gods and all 

Things made — except the Word. 

Ere certain Fate had touched a heart 

By fifty years made cold, 
I judged thee, Lyde, and thy art 

O'erblown and over-bold. 

But he — but he, of whom bereft 

I suffer vacant days — 
He on his shield not meanly left — 

He cherished all thy lays. 
56 



A RECANTATION 57 

Witness the magic coffer stocked 

With convoluted runes 
Wherein thy very voice was locked 

And linked to circling tunes. 



Witness thy portrait, smoke-defiled, 
That decked his shelter-place. 

Life seemed more present, wrote the child, 
Beneath thy well-known face. 



And when the grudging days restored 

Him for a breath to home, 
He, with fresh crowds of youth, adored 

Thee making mirth in Rome. 



Therefore, I, humble, join the hosts, 

Loyal and loud, who bow 
To thee as Queen of Songs — and ghosts- 

For I remember how 



58 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

Never more rampant rose the Hall 

At thy audacious line 
Than when the news came in from Gaul 

Thy son had — followed mine. 



But thou didst hide it in thy breast 
And, capering, took the brunt 

Of blaze and blare, and launched the jest 
That swept next week the front. 



Singer to children! Ours possessed 
Sleep before noon — but thee, 

Wakeful each midnight for the rest, 
No holocaust shall free. 



Yet they who use the Word assigned, 

To hearten and make whole, 
Not less than Gods have served mankind, 

Though vultures rend their soul. 



MY BOY JACK 

'Have you news of my boy Jack?' 

Not this tide, 
'When d'you think that he'll come back?' 

Not with this wind blowing, and this tide. 



'Has any one else had word of him?' 

Not this tide. 
For what is sunk will hardly swim. 

Not with this wind blowing, and this tide. 



'Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?' 

None this tide, 

Nor any tide, 
Except he did not shame his kind — 

Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide. 

59 



6o THE YEx\RS BETWEEN 

Then hold your head up all the more. 

This tide, 

And every tide; 
Because he was the son you bore, 

And gave to that wind blowing and that tide I 



THE VERDICTS 

(JUTLAND) 

Not in the thick of the fight, 
Not in the press of the odds, 

Do the heroes come to their height, 
Or we know the demi-gods. 

That stands over till peace. 

We can only perceive 
Men returned from the seas, 

Very grateful for leave. 

They grant us sudden days 

Snatched from their business of war; 

But we are too close to appraise 

What manner of men they are. 
6i 



62 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

And, whether their names go down 
With age-kept victories, 

Or whether they battle and drown 
Unreckoned, is hid from our eyes. 



They are too near to be great, 
But our children shall understand 

When and how our fate 
Was changed, and by whose hand. 

Our children shall measure their worth. 

We are content to be blind . . . 
But we know that we walk on a new-born earth 

With the saviours of mankind. 



MESOPOTAMIA 

1917 

They shall not return to us, the resolute, the young. 

The eager and whole-hearted whom we gave: 
But the men who left them thriftily to die in their 
own dung, 

ShaU they come with years and honour to the 
grave? ^ 



They shall not return to us, the strong men coldly 
slain 

In sight of help denied from day to day: 
But the men who edged their agonies and chid 
them in their pain. 
Are they too strong and wise to put away? 

63 



64 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

Our dead shall not return to us while Day and 
Night divide — 
Never while the bars of sunset hold: 
But the idle-minded overlings who quibbled while 
they died, 
Shall they thrust for high employments as of old? 



Shall we only threaten and be angry for an hour? 

When the storm is ended shall we find 
How softly but how swiftly they have sidled back 
to power 

By the favour and contrivance of their kind? 



Even while they soothe us, while they promise 
large amends, 
Even while they make a show of fear, 
Do they call upon their debtors, and take council 
with their friends, 
To confirm and re-establish each career? 



MESOPOTAMIA 65 

Their lives cannot repay us— their death could not 
undo — 

The shame that they have laid upon our race: 
But the slothfulness that wasted and the arrogance 
that slew, 
Shall we leave it unabated in its place? 



■/ THE HYENAS 

After the burial-parties leave 
And the baffled kites have fled; 

The wise hyaenas come out at eve 
To take account of our dead. 



How he died and why he died 

Troubles them not a whit. 
They snout the bushes and stones aside 

And dig till they come to it. 



They are only resolute they shall eat 

That they and their mates may thrive, 

And they know that the dead are safer meat 

Than the weakest thing ahve. 
66 



THE HY.ENAS 57 

(For a goat may butt, and a worm may sting, 

And a child will sometimes stand; 
But a poor dead soldier of the King 

Can never lift a hand.) 

They whoop and halloo and scatter the dirt 

Until their tushes white 
Take good hold in the army shirt, 

And tug the corpse to Hght. 



And the pitiful face is shewn again 
For an instant ere they close; 

But it is not discovered to living men — 
Only to God and to those 



Who, being souUess, are free from shame, 
Whatever meat they may find. 

Nor do they defile the dead man's name- 
That is reserved for his kind. 



THE SPIES' MARCH 

(before the war) 

('The outbreak is in full swing and our death-rate would sicken 

Napoleon. . . . Dr. M died last week, and C 

on [Monday, but some more medicines are coming. . . 
We don't seem to be able to check it at all. . . . Vil- 
lages panicking badly. ... In some places not a 
living soul. . . . But at any rate the experience 
gained may come in useful, so I am keeping my notes 
written up to date in case of accidents. . . . Death 
is a queer chap to live with for steady company.' — Extract 
from a private letter from Manchuria.) 

There are no leaders to lead us to honour, and yet 

without leaders we sally, 
Each man reporting for duty alone, out of sight, 

out of reach, of his fellow. 

There are no bugles to call the battaHons, and yet 

without bugles we rally 
68 



THE SPIES' MARCH 69 

From the ends of the earth to the ends of the 
earth, to follow the Standard of Yellow! 
Fall in! fall in ! fall in ! 

Not where the squadrons mass, 

Not where the bayonets shine, 
Not where the big shell shout as they pass 

Over the firing-line; 
Not where the wounded are. 

Not where the nations die, 
Killed in the cleanly game of war — 

That is no place for a spy! 
O Princes, Thrones and Powers, your work is 

less than ours — 
Here is no place for a spy! 

Trained to another use, 

We march with colours furled, 
Only concerned when Death breaks loose 

On a front of half a world. 



70 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

Only for General Death 
The Yellow Flag may fly, 

While we take post beneath — ■ 
That is the place for a spy. 

Where Plague has spread his pinions over Na- 
tions and Dominions — 

Then will be work for a spy! 



The dropping shots begin. 

The single funerals pass, 
Our skirmishers run in, 

The corpses dot the grass! 
The howHng towns stampede. 

The tainted hamlets die. 
Now it is war indeed — 

Now there is room for a spy! 
O Peoples, Kings and Lands, we are waiting 

your commands — 
What is the work for a spy? 

(Drums)— Fear is upon us, spy ! 



THE SPIES' MARCH 71 

* Go where his pickets hide — 

Unmask the shapes they take, 
Whether a gnat from the waterside, 

Or stinging fly in the brake, 
Or filth of the crowded street, 

Or a sick rat hmping by, 
Or a smear of spittle dried in the heat — 

That is the work of a spy! 

(Drums) — Death is upon us, spy ! 



'What does he next prepare? 

Whence will he move to attack? — 
By water, earth or air? — 

How can we head him back? 
Shall we starve him out if we burn 

Or bury his food-supply? 
Slip through his Hues and learn — 

That is work for a spy! 

(Drums) — Get to your business^ spy t 



72 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

' Does he feint or strike in force? 

Will he charge or ambuscade? 
What is it checks his course? 

Is he beaten or only delayed? 
How long will the lull endure? 

Is he retreating? Why? 
Crawl to his camp and make sure — 

That is the work for a spy! 

(Drums) — Fetch us our answer, spy I 

' Ride with him girth to girth 

Wherever the Pale Horse wheels, 
Wait on his councils, ear to earth, 

And say what the dust reveals. 
For the smoke of our torment rolls 

Where the burning thousands he; 
What do we care for men's bodies or souls? 

Bring us deliverance, spyT 



THE SONS OF MARTHA 

The Sons of Mary seldom bother, for they have 
inherited that good part ; 

But the Sons of Martha favour their Mother of the 
careful soul and the troubled heart. 

And because she lost her temper once, and because 
she was rude to the Lord her Guest, 

Her Sons must wait upon Mary's Sons, world with- 
out end reprieve, or rest. 

It is their care in all the ages to take the buffet 

and cushion the shock. 
It is their care that the gear engages; it is their 

care that the switches lock. 
It is their care that the wheels run truly; it is their 

care to embark and entrain, 
Tally, transport, and deliver duly the Sons of 

Mary by land and main. 

73 



74 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

They say to mountains, 'Be ye removed.' They 

say to the lesser floods 'Be dry.' 
Under their rods are the rocks reproved — they are 

not afraid of that which is high. 
Then do the hill-tops shake to the summit — then 

is the bed of the deep laid bare, 
That the Sons of Mary may overcome it, pleasantly 

sleeping and unaware. 

They finger death at their gloves' end where they 

piece and repiece the hving wires. 
He rears against the gates they tend: they feed 

him hungry behind their fires. 
Early at dawn, ere men see clear, they stumble into 

his terrible stall. 
And hale him forth hke a haltered steer, and goad 

and turn him till evenfall. 

To these from birth is BeHef forbidden; from these 

till death is Relief afar. 
They are concerned with matters hidden — under 

the earth-line their altars are: 



THE SONS OF MARTIL\ 75 

The secret fountains to follow up, waters withdrawn 

to restore to the mouth, 
And gather the floods as in a cup, and pour them 

again at a city's drouth 

They do not preach that their God will rouse them 
a little before the nuts work loose. 

They do not teach that His Pity allows them to 
leave their work when they damn-well choose. 

As in the thronged and the lighted ways, so in the 
dark and the desert they stand, 

Wary and watchful all their days that their breth- 
ren's days may be long in the land. 

Raise ye the stone or cleave the wood to make a 

path m.ore fair or flat ; 
Lo, it is black aheady with blood some Son of 

Martha spilled for that ! 
Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a 

witness to any creed, 
But simple service simply given to his own kind in 

their common need. 



76 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

And the Sons of Mary smile and are blessed — they 

know the angels are on their side. 
They know in them is the Grace confessed, and for 

them are the Mercies multiplied. 
They sit at the Feet — they hear the Word — they 

see how truly the Promise runs; 
They have cast their burden upon the Lord, and — 

the Lord He lays it on Martha's Sons! 



MARY'S SON 

If you stop to find out what your wages will be 
And how they will clothe and feed you, 

WiUie, my son, don't you go on the Sea, 
For the Sea will never need you. 

If you ask for the reason of every command, 

And argue with people about you, 
Willie, my son, don't you go on the Land, 

For the Land will do better without you. 

If you stop to consider the work you have done 
And to boast what your labour is worth, dear, 

Angels may come for you, Willie, my son. 
But you'll never be wanted on Earth, dear! 



77 



THE SONG OF THE LATHES 

1918 

(Being the words of the tune hummed at her lathe by 

Mrs. L. Embsay, widow.) 

The fans and the beltings they roar round me. 
The power is shaking the floor round me 
Till the lathes pick up their duty and the midnight- 
shift takes over. 

It is good for me to be here! 

Guns in Flanders — Flanders guns ! 
(I had a man that worked ^em once !) 
Shells for guns in Flanders, Fla^iders ! 
Shells for guns in Flanders, Flanders ! 

Shells for guns hi Flanders ! Feed the guns ! 

The cranes and the carriers they boom over me, 
The bays and the galleries they loom over me, 
With their quarter-mile of pillars growing little in 
the distance: 

It is good for me to be here! 

78 



THE SONG OF THE LATHES 79 

The Zeppelins ajid Gothas they raid over us. 
Our lights give warning, and fade over us. 
(Seven thousand women keeping quiet in the 
darkness!) 

Oh, it is good for me to be here! 

The roofs and the buildings they grow round me, 
Eating up the fields I used to know round me; 
And the shed that I began in is a sub-inspector's 
office — 

So long have I been here! 

I've seen six hundred mornings make our lamps 
grow dim, 

Through the bit that isn't painted round our sky- 
light rim. 

And the sunshine in the window slope accord- 
ing to the seasons, 

Twice since IVe been here. 

The trains on the sidings they call to us 
With the hundred thousand blanks that they haul 
to us; 



8o THE YEARS BETWEEN 

And we send 'em what we've finished, and they 
take it where it's wanted, 

For that is why we are here! 

Man's hate passes as his love will pass. 
God made woman what she always was. 
Them that bear the burden they will never grant 
forgiveness 

So long as they are here! 

Once I was a woman, but that's by with me. 
All I loved and looked for, it must die with me. 
But the Lord has left me over for a servant of the 
Judgment, 

And I serve His Judgments here! 

Guns in Flanders — Flanders guns ! 
(/ had a son that worked 'em once !) 
Shells for guns in Flanders, Flanders ! 
Shells for guns in Flanders, Flanders I 

Shells for guns in Flanders I Feed the guns I 



GETHSEMANE 

The Garden called Gethsemane 

In Picardy it was, 
And there the people came to see 

The English soldiers pass. 
We used to pass — we used to pass 

Or halt, as it might be, 
And ship our masks in case of gas 

Beyond Gethsemane. 

The Garden called Gethsemane, 

It held a pretty lass. 
But all the time she talked to me 

I prayed my cup might pass. 
The officer sat on the chair, 

The men lay on the grass, 
And all the time we halted there 

I prayed my cup might pass. 



82 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

It didn't pass — it didn't pass — 
It didn't pass from me. 

I drank it when we met the gas 
Beyond Gethsemane. 



THE PRO-CONSULS 

The overfaithful sword returns the user 

His heart's desire at price of his heart's blood. 

The clamour of the arrogant accuser 

Wastes that one hour ive needed to make good. 

This was foretold of old at our outgoing; 

This we accepted who have squandered, knowing. 

The strength and glory of our reputations, 

At the day's need, as it were dross, to guard 

The tender and new-dedicate foundations 

Against the sea we fear — not man's award. 

They that dig foundations deep, 

Fit for reahns to rise upon, 
Little honour do they reap 

Of their generation, 
Any more than mountains gain 
Stature till we reach the plain. 



THE YEARS BETWEEN 

With no veil before their face 
Such as shroud or sceptre lend — 

Dail}" in the market-place, 
Of one height to foe and friend — 

They must cheapen self to find 

Ends uncheapened for mankind. 



Through the night when hirelings rest, 

Sleepless they arise, alone, 
The unsleeping arch to test 

And the o'er-trusted corner-stone, 
'Gainst the need, they know, that hes 
Hid behind the centuries. 

Not by lust of praise or show 
Not by Peace herself betrayed — 

Peace herseK must they forego 
Till that peace be fitly made; 

And in single strength uphold 
Wearier hands and hearts acold. 



THE PRO-CONSULS 

On the stage their act hath framed 
For thy sports, O Liberty! 

Doubted are they, and defamed 
By the tongues their act set free, 

While they quicken, tend and raise 

Power that must their power displace 



Lesser men feign greater goals, 
Faihng whereof they may sit 

Scholarly to judge the souls 
That go down into the pit. 

And, despite its certain clay, 

Heave a new world towards the day. 

These at labour make no sign. 
More than planets, tides or years 

Which discover God's design. 
Not our hopes and not our fears; 

Nor in aught they gain or lose 

Seek a triumph or excuse. 



86 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

For, so the Ark he home to Zion, who 
Heeds how they perished or were paid that hare it ? 
For, so the Shrine abide, what shame — what pride- 
If we, the priests, were bound or crowned hefore it ? 



THE CRAFTSMAN 

Once, after long-drawn revel at The Mermaid, 
He to the overbearing Boanerges 
Jonson, uttered (If half of it were liquor, 

Blessed be the vintage!) 

Saying how, at an alehouse under Cotswold, 
He had made sure of his very Cleopatra, 
Drunk with enormous, salvation-contemning 
Love for a tinker. 

How, while he hid from Sir Thomas's keepers. 
Crouched in a ditch and drenched by the midnight 
Dews, he had listened to gipsy JuHet 

Rail at the dawning. 

How at Bankside, a boy drowning kittens 

Winced at the business; whereupon his sister 

(Lady Macbeth aged seven) thrust 'em under, 

Sombrely scornful. 
S7 



88 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

How on a Sabbath, hushed and compassionate — 
She being known since her birth to the townsfolk — 
Stratford dredged and dehvered from Avon 
Dripping OpheHa. 

So, with a thin third finger marrying 
Drop to wine-drop domed on the table, 
Shakespeare opened his heart till sunrise 
Entered to hear him. 

London wakened and he, imperturbable, 
Passed from waking to hurry after shadows . . , 
Busied upon shows of no earthly importance? 
Yes, but he knew it! 



THINGS AND THE MAN 

(in MEMORIAM, JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN) 
1904 

('And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: 
and they hated him yet the more.' — Genesis xxxvii. 5.) 

Oh ye who hold the written clue 

To all save all unwritten things, 
And, half a league behind, pursue 
The accomplished Fact with flouts and flings. 
Look! To your knee your baby brings 
The oldest tale since Earth began — 
The answer to your worryings : 
'Once on a time there was a Man,^ 

He, single-handed, met and slew 

Magicians, Armies, Ogres, Kings. 

He lonely 'mid his doubting crew — 

*In all the loneliness of wings' — 
89 



go THE YEARS BETWEEN 

He fed the flame, he filled the springs, 
He locked the ranks, he launched the van 

Straight at the grinning Teeth of Things. 
^Once on a time there was a Man.'' 

The peace of shocked Foundations flew 

Before his ribald questionings. 
He broke the Oracles in two. 
And bared the paltry wires and strings. 
He headed desert wanderings; 

He led his soul, his cause, his clan 
A little from the ruck of Things. 
^Once on a time there was a Man.'' 

Thrones, Powers, Dominions block the view 

With episodes and underlings — 
The meek historian deems them true 
Nor heeds the song that CUo sings — 
The simple central truth that stings 

The mob to boo, the priest to ban; 
Things never yet created things — 
^Once on a time there was a Man.'' 



THINGS AND THE MAN qi 

A bolt is fallen from the blue. 

A wakened realm full circle swings 
Where Dothan's dreamer dreams anew 
Of vast and farborne harvestings; 
And unto him an Empire clings 

That grips the purpose of his plan. 
My Lords, how think you of these things? 
Once — in our time — is there a Man ? 



^ THE BENEFACTORS 

Ae ! What avails the classic be7it 
And what the cultured word, 

Against the undoctored incident 
Thai actually occurred ? 



And what is Art whereto we press 

Through paint and prose and rhyme- 
When Nature in her nakedness 
Defeats us every tinte ? 



It is not learning, grace nor gear, 

Nor easy meat and drink, 

But bitter pinch of pain and fear 

That makes creation think. 
92 



THE BENEFACTORS 93 

When in this world's unpleasing youth 

Our god-hke race began, 
The longest arm, the sharpest tooth, 

Gave man control of man; 



Till, bruised and bitten to the bone 
And taught by pain and fear, 

He learned to deal the far-off stone, 
And poke the long, safe spear. 

So tooth and nail were obsolete 

As means against a foe, 
Till, bored by uniform defeat. 

Some genius built the bow. 



Then stone and javelin proved as vain 
As old-time tooth and nail; 

Ere, spurred anew by fear and pain, 
Man fashioned coats of mail. 



94 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

Then was there safety for the rich 

And danger for the poor, 
Till someone mixed a powder which 

Redressed the scale once more. 

Helmet and armour disappeared 
With sword and bow and pike, 

And, when the smoke of battle cleared, 
All men were armed alike. . . . 

And when ten million such were slain 
To please one crazy king, 

Man, schooled in bulk by fear and pain, 
Grew weary of the thing; 

And, at the very hour designed, 
To enslave him past recall. 

His tooth-stone-arrow-gun-shy mind 
Turned and aboHshed all. 



THE BENEFACTORS 95 

All Power J each Tyrant, every Mob 

Whose head has grown too large, 
Ends by destroying its own job 

And earns its own discharge. 

And Man, whose mere necessities 

Move all things from his path, 
Trembles meanwhile at their decrees, 

And deprecates their wrath I 



THE DEAD KING 

(EDWARD VII.) 
I9IO 

Who in the Realm to-day lays down dear life for the 
sake of a land more dear ? 
And, unconcerned for his own estate, toils till the last 
grudged sands have run ? 

Let him approach. It is proven here 
Our King asks nothing of any man more than Our 
King himself has done. 



For to him above all was Life good, above all he 
commanded 

Her abundance full-handed. 

q6 



THE DEAD KING 97 

The peculiar treasure of Kings was his for the 
taking: 

All that men come to in dreams he inherited 
waking: — 

His marvel of world-gathered armies— one heart 

and all races; 
His seas 'neath his keels when his war-castles 

foamed to their places; 
The thundering foreshores that answered his 

heralded landing; 
The huge Hghted cities adoring, the assemblies 

upstanding; 
The Councils of Kings called in haste to learn how 

he was minded — 
The Kingdoms, the Powers, and the Glories he 

dealt with unblinded. 

To him came all captains of men, all achievers of 

glory, 
Hot from the press of their battles they told him 

their story. 



98 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

They revealed him their Hfe in an hour and, saluting, 
departed, 

Joyful to labour afresh — he had made them new- 
hearted. 

And, since he weighed men from his youth, and no 
lie long deceived him, 

He spoke and exacted the truth, and the basest 
beheved him. 

And God poured him an exquisite wine, that was 
daily renewed to him, 

In the clear-weUing love of his peoples that daily 
accrued to him. 

Honour and service we gave him, rejoicingly 
fearless; 

Faith absolute, trust beyond speech and a friendship 
as peerless. 

And since he was Master and Servant in all that we 
asked him, 

We leaned hard on his wisdom in all things, know- 
ing not how we tasked him. 



THE DEAD KING 99 

For on him each new day laid command, every 

tyrannous hour, 
To confront, or confirm, or make smooth some di'ead 

issue of power; 
To deHver true judgment aright at the instant, 

unaided, 
In the strict, level, ultimate phrase that allowed or 

dissuaded; 
To foresee, to allay, to avert from us perils un- 
numbered, 
To stand guard on our gates when he guessed that 

the watchmen had slumbered; 
To win time, to turn hate, to woo folly to service 

and, mightily schoohng 
His strength to the use of his Nations, to rule as 

not ruling. 
These were the works of our King; Earth's peace 

was the proof of them. 
God gave him great works to fulfil, and to us the 

behoof of them. 



loo THE YEARS BETWEEN 

We accepted his toil as our right — none spared, 

none excused him. 
When he was bowed by his burden his rest was 

refused him. 
We troubled his age with our weakness — the blacker 

our shame to us! 
Hearing his People had need of him, straightway 

he came to us. 



As he received so he gave — nothing grudged, 

naught denying, 
Not even the last gasp of his breath when he strove 

for us, dying. 
For our sakes, without question, he put from him 

all that he cherished. 
Simply as any that serve him he served and he 

perished. 
All that Kings covet was his, and he flung it aside 

for us. 
Simply as any that die in his service he died for us. 



THE DEAD KING loi 

Who in the Realm to-day has choice of the easy road or 
the hard to tread ? 
And, much concerned for his own estate, would sell 
his soul to remain in the sun ? 

Let him depart nor look on Our dead. 
Our King asks nothing of any man more than Our 
King himself has done. 



A DEATH-BED 

'Tras is the State above the Law. 

The State exists for the State alone.' 
[This is a gland at the back of the jaw, 

And an answering lump by the collar-bone.] 

Some die shouting in gas or fire; 

Some die silent, by shell and shot. 
Some die desperate, caught on the wire; 

Some die suddenly. This will not. 

'Regis suprema Voluntas lex' 

[It will follow the regular course of — throats.] 
Some die pinned by the broken decks, 

Some die sobbing between the boats. 

Some die eloquent, pressed to death 

By the sliding trench as their friends can hear. 
Some die wholly in half a breath. 

Some — give trouble for half a year. 



I02 



A DEATH-BED 103 

* There is neither Evil nor Good in life 
Except as the needs of the State ordain.' 

[Since it is rather too late for the knifey 
All we can do is to mask the pain.] 



Some die saintly in faith and hop( 
One died thus in a prison-yard — 

Some die broken by rape or the rope; 
Some die easily. This dies hard. 

*I will dash to pieces who bar my way. 

Woe to the traitor! Woe to the weak!' 
[Let him write what he wishes to say. 

It tires him out if he tries to speak,] 



Some die quietly. Some abound 
In loud self-pity. Others spread 

Bad morale through the cots around 
This is a type that is better dead. 



I04 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

'The war was forced on me by my foes. 

All that I sought was the right to live.' 
Don't he afraid of a triple dose; 

The pain will neutralize half we give. 

Here are the needles. See that he dies 
While the effects of the drug endure, . . 

What is the question he asks with his eyes ? — 
Yes J All-Highest f to God, be sure.] 



GEHAZI 

* Whence comest thou, Gehazi, 

So reverend to behold, 
In scarlet and in ermines 

And chain of England's gold?' 
'From following after Naaman 

To tell him all is well, 
Whereby, my zeal hath made me 

A Judge in Israel.' 

Well done, well done, Gehazi, 

Stretch forth thy ready hand. 
Thou barely 'scaped from judgment, 

Take oath to judge the land. 
Unswayed by gift of money 

Or privy bribe, more base. 
Of knowledge which is profit 

In any market-place. 



io6 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

Search out and probe, Gehazi, 

As thou of all canst try, 
The truthful, well-weighed answer 

That tells the blacker lie — 
The loud, uneasy virtue 

The anger feigned at will. 
To overbear a witness 

And make the Court keep still. 

Take order now, Gehazi, 

That no man talk aside 
In secret with his judges 

The while his case is tried. 
Lest he should show them — reason 

To keep a matter hid. 
And subtly lead the questions 

Away from what he did. 

Thou mirror of uprightness, 
What ails thee at thy vows? 

What means the risen whiteness 
Of the skin between thy brows? 



GEHAZI 107 

The boils that shine and burrow, 

The sores that slough and bleed — 
The leprosy of Naaman 
On thee and all thy seed? 
Stand up, stand up, Gehazi, 

Draw close thy robe and go, 
Gehazi, Judge in Israel, 
A leper white as snow! 



THE VIRGINITY 

Try as he will, no man breaks wholly loose 
From his first love, no matter who she be. 
Oh, was there ever sailor free to choose, 
That didn't settle somewhere near the sea? 



Myself, it don't excite me nor amuse 
To watch a pack o' shipping on the sea, 
But I can understand my neighbour's views 
From certain things which have occurred to me. 



Men must keep touch with things they used to use 

To earn their living, even when they are free; 

And so come back upon the least excuse — 

Same as the sailor settled near the sea. 

io8 



THE VIRGINITY 109 

He knows he's never going on no cruise — 
He knows he's done and finished with the sea; 
And yet he likes to feel she's there to use — 
If he should ask her — as she used to be. 

Even though she cost him all he had to lose, 
Even though she made him sick to hear or see, 
Still, what she left of him will mostly choose 
Her skirts to sit by. How comes such to be? 

Parsons in pulpits, tax-payers in pews, 
Kings on your thrones, you know as well as me, 
We^ve only one virginity to lose, 
And where we lost it there our hearts will be ! 



A PILGRIM'S WAY , 

I DO not look for holy saints to guide me on my 

way, 
Or male and female devilkins to lead my feet 

astray. 
If these are added, I rejoice — if not, I shall not 

mind, 
So long as I have leave and choice to meet my 
fellow-kind. 
For as we come and as we go (and deadly soon 

go we!) 
The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough 
for me! 

Thus I will honour pious men whose virtue shines 

so bright 

(Though none are more amazed than I when I by 

chance do right), 

no 



A PILGRIM'S WAY in 

And I will pity foolish men for woe their sins have 

bred 
(Though ninety-nine per cent, of mine I brought on 
my own head). 
And, Amorite or Eremite, or General Averagee, 
The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough 
for me! 



And when they bore me overmuch, I will not shake 

mine ears, 
Recalling many thousand such whom I have bored 

to tears. 
And when they labour to impress, I will not doubt 

nor scoff; 
Since I myself have done no less and — sometimes 

pulled it off. 
/ Yea, as we are and we are not, and we pretend 
{ to be. 

The people. Lord, Thy people, are good enough 
\ for me ! 



112 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

And when they work me random wrong, as often- 
times hath been, 
I will not cherish hate too long (my hands are none 

too clean). 
And when they do me random good I will not feign 

surprise, 
No more than those whom I have cheered with 
wayside charities. 
But, as we give and as we take — whate'er our 

takings be — 
The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough 
for me! 



But when I meet with frantic folk who sinfully de- 
clare 

There is no pardon for their sin, the same I will 
not spare 

Till I have proved that Heaven and Hell which in 
our hearts w^e have 

Show nothing irredeemable on either side the grave. 



A PILGRIM'S WAY 113 

For as we live and as we die — if utter Death there 
; be — 

The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough 
for me ! 

Deliver me from every pride — the Middle, High, 

and Low — 
That bars me from a brother's side, whatever state 

he show. 
And purge me from all heresies of thought and 

speech and pen 
That bid me judge him otherwise than I am judged. 
Amen ! 
That I may sing of Crowd or King or road-borne 

company, 
That I may labour in my day, vocation and 

degree. 
To prove the same in deed and name, and hold 

unshakenly 
(Where'er I go, whate'er I know, whoe'er my 
neighbour be) 



114 I'HE YEARS BETWEEN-, 

This single faith in Life and Death and all 

Eternity: 
'The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough 

for me!' 



THE OLDEST SONG 
(For before Eve was Lilith. — Old Tale.) 

These were never your true love's eyes. 

Why do you feign that you love them? 
You that broke from their constancies, 

And the wide calm brows above them! 



This was never your true love's speech. 

Why do you thrill when you hear it? 
You that have ridden out of its reach 

The width of the world or near it! 



This was never your true love's hair, — 
You that chafed when it bound you 

Screened from knowledge or shame or care, 
In the night that it made around you! 

IIS 



ii6 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

'All these things I know, I know. 

And thaVs why my heart is breaking /' 
Then what do you gain by pretending so? 

^ The joy of an old wound waking.* 



NATURAL THEOLOGY 

PRIMITIVE 

I ATE my fill of a whale that died 

And stranded after a month at sea. . . . 
There is a pain in my inside. 

Why have the Gods afflicted me? 
Ow! I am purged till I am a wraith! 

Wow! I am sick till I cannot see! 
What is the sense of Religion and Faith? 

Look how the Gods have afflicted me! 



PAGAN 

How can the skin of rat or mouse hold 

Anything more than a harmless flea? . . 

The burning plague has taken my household. 

Why have my Gods afflicted me? 
117 



ii8 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

Ail my kith and liin are deceased, 

Tliougli tiiey were as good as good could be. 
I will out and batter the family priest, 

Because my Gods have afflicted me. 



MEDIEVAL 

My privy and well drain into each other 

After the custom of Christendie. . . . 
Fevers and fluxes are wasting my mother. 

Why has the Lord afflicted me? 
The Saints are helpless for all I offer — 

So are the clergy I used to fee. 
Henceforward I keep my cash in my coffer, 

Because the Lord has afflicted me. 



MATERIAL 

I run eight hundred hens to the acre. 

They die by dozens mysteriously. . . . 
I am more than doubtful concerning my Maker. 

Why has the Lord afflicted me? 



NATURAL THEOLOGY 119 

What a return for all my endeavour — 

Not to mention the L. S. Dd 
I am an atheist now and for ever, 

Because this God has afHicted me! 



PROGRESSIVE 

Money spent on an Army or Fleet 

Is homicidal lunacy. . . . 
My son has been killed in the Mons retreat. 

Why is the Lord afflicting me? 
Why are murder, pillage and arson 

And rape allowed by the Deity? 
I will write to the Times^ deriding our parson, 

Because my God has afflicted me. 

CHORUS 

We had a kettle: we let it leak: 
Our not repairing it made it worse. 

We haven't had any tea for a week. . . , 
The bottom is out of the Universe! 



I20 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

CONCLUSION 

This was none of the good Lord's pleasure, 

For the Spirit He breathed in Man is free; 
But what comes after is measure for measure, 

And not a God that aflflicteth thee. 
As was the sowing so the reaping 

Is now and evermore shall be. 
Thou art delivered to thy own keeping. 

Only Thyself hath afHicted thee! 



A SONG AT COCK-CROW 

'I lie mitem iterum negavii.' 

The first time that Peter denied his Lord 

He shrank from the cudgel, the scourge and the 

cord, 
But followed far off to see what they would do, 
Till the cock crew — till the cock crew — 
After Gethsemane, till the cock crew! 

The first time that Pet£r denied his Lord 

'Twas only a maid in the palace who heard, 

As he sat by the fire and warmed himself through. 

Then the cock crew! Then the* cock crew! 

('Thou also art one of them.') Then the cock crew! 

The first time that Peter denied his Lord 
He had neither the Throne, nor the Keys nor the 
Sword — 

121 



122 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

A poor silly fisherman, what could he do 
When the cock crew — when the cock crew — 
But weep for his wickedness when the cock crew? 
• •••••• 

The next time that Peter denied his Lord 

He was Fisher of Men, as foretold by the Word, 

With the Crown on his brow and the Cross on his 

shoe, 
When the cock crew — when the cock crew — 
In Flanders and Picardy when the cock crew. 

The next time that Peter denied his Lord 
'Twas Mary the Mother in Heaven Who heard, 
And She grieved for the maidens and wives that 

they slew 
When the cock crew — when the cock crew — 
At Tirmonde and Aerschott when fhe cock crew. 



The next time that Peter denied his Lord 
The Babe in the Manger awakened and stirred, 



A SONG AT COCK-CROW 123 

And He stretched out His arms for the playmates 

He knew — 
When the cock crew — when the cock crew — 
But the waters had covered them when the cock crew. 

The next time that Peter denied his Lord 
'Twas Earth in her agony waited his word, 
But he sat by the fire and naught would he do, 
Though the cock crew — though the cock crew — 
Over all Christendom, though the cock crew. 

The last time that Peter denied his Lord, 

The Father took from him the Keys and the Sword, 

And the Mother and Babe brake his Kingdom in 

two, 
When the cock crew — when the cock crew — 
{Because of his wickedness) when the cock crew! 



THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES 
1911 

When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in 

his pride, 
He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn 

aside. 
But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant 

tooth and nail. 
For the female of the species is more deadly than 

the male. 



When Nag the basking cobra hears the careless 

foot of man, 
He will sometimes wriggle sideways and avoid it as 

he can. 

124 



THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES 125 

But his mate makes no such motion where she 

camps beside the trail. 
For the female of the species is more deadly than 

the male. 



When the early Jesuit fathers preached to Hurons 

and Choctaws, 
They prayed to be dehvered from the vengeance of 

the squaws. 
'Twas the women, not the warriors, turned those 

stark enthusiasts pale. 
For the female of the species is more deadly than 

the male. 



Man^s timid heart is bursting with the things he 

must not say, 
For the Woman that God gave him isn't his to 

give away; 



126 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

But when hunter meets with husband, each confirms 

the other's tale — 
The female of the species is more deadly than the 

male. 



Man, a bear in most relations — worm and savage 

otherwise, — 
Man propounds negotiations, Man accepts the 

compromise. 
Very rarely will he squarely push the logic of 

a fact 
To its ultimate conclusion in unmitigated act. 



Fear, or fooHshness, impels him, ere he lay the 

wicked low, 
To concede some form of trial even to his fiercest 

foe. 



THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES 127 

Mirth obscene diverts his anger! Doubt and Pity 

oft perplex 
Him in deaHng with an issue — to the scandal of 

The Sex! 



But the Woman that God gave him, every fibre of 

her frame 
Proves her launched for one sole issue, armed and 

engined for the same; 
And to serve that single issue, lest the generations 

fail, 
The female of the species must be deadHer than 

the male. 



She who faces Death by torture for each life 

beneath her breast 
May not deal in doubt or pity — must not swerve 

for fact or jest. 



128 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

These be purely male diversions — not in these her 

honour dwells. 
She the Other Law we live by, is that Law and 

nothing else. 



She can bring no more to living than the powers 

that make her great 
As the Mother of the Infant and the Mistress of 

the Mate! 
And when Babe and Man are lacking and she 

strides unclaimed to claim 
Her right as femme (and baron), her equipment is 

the same. 



She is wedded to convictions — in default of grosser 

ties; 
Her contentions are her children, Heaven help him 

who denies! — 



THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES 129 

He will meet no suave discussion, but the instant, 

white-hot, wild. 
Wakened female of the species warring as for 

spouse and child. 



Unprovoked and awful charges — even so the she- 
bear fights, 

Speech that drips, corrodes, and poisons — even so 
the cobra bites, 

Scientific vivisection of one nerve till it is 
raw 

And the victim writhes in anguish — like the Jesuit 
with the squaw! 



So it comes that Man the coward, when he gathers 

to confer 
With his fellow-braves in council, dare not leave 

a place for her 



I30 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

Where, at war with Life and Conscience, he uplifts 

his erring hands 
To some God of Abstract Justice — which no woman 

understands. 



And Man knows it! Knows, moreover, that the 

Woman that God gave him 
Must command but may not govern — shall enthral 

but not enslave him. 
And She knows, because She warns him, and Her 

instincts never fail, 
That the Female of Her Species is more deadly 

than the Male. 



EPITAPHS 
'Equality of Sacrifice' 

A. ^1 was a "have."' B. '1 was a "have-not."' 
(Together). 'What hast thou given which I gave 
not?' 

A Servant 

We were together since the War began. 
He was my servant — and the better man. 

A Son 

My son was killed while laughing at some jest. I 

would I knew 
WTiat it was, and it might serve me in a time when 

jests are few. 

An Only Son 

I have slain none except my Mother. She 
(Blessing her slayer) died of grief for me. 
131 



132 THE YEARS BETWEEN 



Ex-Clerk 
Pity not! The Army gave 
Freedom to a timid slave: 
In which Freedom did he find 
Strength of body, will, and mind: 
By which strength he came to prove 
Mirth, Companionship, and Love: 
For which Love to Death he went: 
In which Death he lies content. 



The Wonder 

Body and Spirit I surrendered whole 

To harsh Instructors — and received a soul . . . 

If mortal man could change me through and 

through 
From all I was — what may The God not do? 



EPITAPHS 



133 



Hindu Sepoy in France 
This man in his own country prayed we know not 

to what Powers. 
We pray Them to reward him for his bravery in 

ours. 



The Coward 
I could not look on Death, which being known, 
Men led me to him, blindfold and alone. 



Shock 

My name, my speech, my self I had forgot. 
My wife and children came — I knew them not. 
I died. My Mother followed. At her call 
And on her bosom I remembered all. 



134 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

A Grave near Cairo 

Gods of the Nile, should this stout fellow here 
Get out — ^get out! He knows not shame nor fear. 



Pelicans in the Wilderness 
(a grave near halfa) 

The blown sand heaps on me, that none may learn 
Where I am laid for whom my children grieve. . . 

O wings that beat at dawning, ye return 
Out of the desert to your young at eve! 



The Favour 
Death favoured me from the first, well knowing I 
could not endure 
To wait on him day by day. He quitted m.y 
betters and came 



EPITAPHS 135 

Whistling over the fields, and, when he had made 
all sure, 
'Thy line is at end,' he said, 'but at least I have 
saved its name." 



The Beginner 
On the first hour of my first day 

In the front trench I fell. 
(Children in boxes at a play 

Stand up to watch it well.) 



R. A. F. (Aged Eighteen) 

Laughing through clouds, his milk-teeth still un- 
shed. 
Cities and men he smote from overhead. 
His deaths dehvered, he returned to play 
Childlike, with childish things now put away. 



136 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

The Refined Man 
I was of delicate mind. I went aside for my needs, 
Disdaining the common office. I was seen from 
afar and killed. . . . 
How is this matter for mirth? Let each man be 
judged by his deeds. 
/ have paid my price to live with myself on the terms 
that I willed. 

Native Water-Carrier (M. E. F.) 
Prometheus brought down fire to men. 

This brought up water.' 
The Gods are jealous— now, as then, 

They gave no quarter. 

Bombed in London 

On land and sea I strove with anxious care 
To escape conscription. It was in the air! 



EPITAPHS 137 

The Sleepy Sentinel 

Faithless the watch that I kept: now I have none 

to keep. 
I was slain because I slept: now I am slain I sleep. 
Let no man reproach me again, whatever watch is 

unkept- 
I sleep because I am slain. They slew me because 

I slept. 



Battertes out of Ammunition 

/ If any mourn us in the workshop, say 
We died because the shift kept hohday. 

Common Form 
If any question why we died, 
Tell them, because our fathers lied. 

A Dead Statesman 

\ I could not dig : I dared not rob : 
Therefore I lied to please the mob. 



138 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

Now all my lies are proved untrue, 
And I must face the men I slew. 
What tale shall save me here among 
Mine angry and defrauded young? 



The Rebel 
If I had clamoured at Thy Gate 

For gift of Life on Earth, 
And, thrusting through the souls that wait, 

Flung headlong into birth — 
Even then, even then, for gin and snare 

About my pathway spread. 
Lord, I had mocked Thy thoughtful care 

Before I joined the Dead! 
But now? . . . I was beneath Thy Hand 

Ere yet the Planets came. 
And now — though Planets pass, I stand 

The witness to Thy Shame. 



EPITAPHS 139 

The Obedient 

Daily, though no ears attended. 

Did my prayers arise. 
Daily, though no fire descended 

Did I sacrifice. . . , 
Though my darkness did not lift. 

Though I faced no lighter odds, 
Though the Gods bestowed no gift, 
None the less, 

None the less, I served the Gods! 



A Drifter off Tarentum 
He from the wind-bitten north with ship and 
companions descended, 
Searching for eggs of death spawned by invisible 
hulls. 
Many he found and drew forth. Of a sudden the 
fishery ended 
In flame and a clamorous breath not new to the 
eye-pecking gulls. 



I40 THE YE.\RS BETWEEN 

Destroyers in Collision 
.For Fog and Fate no charm is found 

To lighten or amend. 
I, hurrying to my bride, was drowned- 

Cut do.wn by my best friend. 



Convoy Escort 

I was a shepherd to fools 
Causelessly bold or afraid. 

They would not abide by my rules. 
Ye.t they escaped. For I stayed. 



Unknown Female Corpse 
Headless, lacking foot and hand. 
Horrible I come to land. 
I beseech all women's sons 
Know I was a mother once. 



EPITAPHS 141 

Raped and Revenged 
One used and butchered me: another spied 
Me broken — for which thing a hundred died. 
So it was learned among the heathen hosts 
How much a freeborn woman's favour costs. 

Salonikan Grave 
I have watched a thousand days 
Push out and crawl into night 
Slowly as tortoises. 
Now I, too, follow these. 
It is fever, and not fight — 
Time, not battle — that slays. 



The Bridegroom 
Call me not false, beloved, 

If, from thy scarce-known breast 
So little time removed, 

In other arms I rest. 



142 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

For this more ancient bride 
Whom coldly I embrace 

Was constant at my side 
Before I saw thy face. 

Our marriage, often set — 
By miracle delayed — 

At last is consummate, 
And cannot be unmade. 

Live, then, whom Life shall cure, 

Almost, of Memory, 
And leave us to endure 

Its immortality. 



V. A. D. (Mediterranean) 
Ah, would swift ships had never been, for then we 

ne'er had found, 
These harsh iEgean rocks between, this little virgin 

drowned. 



EPITAPHS 143 

Whom neither spouse nor child shall mourn, but 

men she nursed through pain 
And — certain keels for whose return the heathen, 

look in vain. 



^THE CITY OF BRASS' 
1909 

('Here was a people whom after their works thou shalt see 
wept over for their lost dominion: and in this palace is the last 
information respecting lords collected in the dust.' — The 
Arabian Nights.) 

In a land that the sand overlays — the ways to her gates 

are untrod — 
A multitude ended their days whose fates were made 

splendid by God, 
Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness 

and went to their fall, 
And of these is a story written: but Allah alone 

knoweth all ! 

When the wine stirred in their heart their bosoms 

dilated, 

They rose to suppose themselves kings over all 

things created — 

144 



'THE CITY OF BRASS' 145 

To decree a new earth at a birth without labour or 
sorrow — 

To declare: 'We prepare it to-day and inherit 
to-morrow.' 

They chose themselves prophets and priests of 
minute understanding, 

Men swift to see done, and outrun, their extremest 
commanding — 

Of the tribe which describe with a jibe the per- 
versions of Justice — 

Panders avowed to the crowd whatsoever its lust is. 



Swiftly these pulled down the walls that their 
fathers had made them — 

The impregnable ramparts of old, they razed and 
relaid them 

As playgrounds of pleasure and leisure with limit- 
less entries, 

And havens of rest for the wastrels where once 
walked the sentries; 



146 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

And because there was need of more pay for the 

shouters and marchers, 
They disbanded in face of their foemen their bow- 
men and archers. 
They rephed to their well-wishers' fears — to their 

enemies' laughter, 
Saying: 'Peace! We have fashioned a God Which 

shall save us hereafter. 
We ascribe all dominion to man in his factions 

conferring. 
And have given to numbers the Name of the 

Wisdom unerring.' 
They said: 'Who has hate in his soul? Who has 

envied his neighbour? 
Let him arise and control both that man and his 

labour.' 

They said: 'Who is eaten by sloth? Whose un- 

thrift has destroyed him? 
He shall levy a tribute from all because none have 

employed him.' 



'THE CITY OF BRASS' 147 

They said: 'Who hath toiled? Who hath striven, 

and gathered possession? 
Let him be spoiled. He hath given full proof of 

transgression.' 
They said: 'Who is irked by the Law? Though 

we may not remove it, 
If he lend us his aid in this raid, we will set him above 

it!' 
So the robber did judgment again upon such as 

displeased him, 
The slayer, too, boasted his slain, and the judges 

released him. 

As for their kinsmen far off, on the skirts of the 
nation, 

They harried all earth to make sure none escaped 
reprobation, 

They awakened unrest for a jest in their newly- 
won borders. 

And jeered at the blood of their brethren betrayed 
by their orders. 



148 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

They instructed the ruled to rebel, their rulers to 

aid them; 
And, since such as obeyed them not fell, their 

Viceroys obeyed them. 
When the riotous set them at naught they said: 

'Praise the upheaval! 
For the show and the word and the thought of 

Dominion is evil!' 

They unwound and flung from them with rage, as a 
rag that defiled them 

The imperial gains of the age which their fore- 
fathers piled them. 

They ran panting in haste to lay waste and em- 
bitter for ever 

The wellsprings of Wisdom and Strength which are 
Faith and Endeavour. 

They nosed out and digged up and dragged forth 
and exposed to derision 

All doctrine of purpose and worth and restraint and 
prevision: 



'THE CITY OF FRASS' 149 

And it ceased, and God granted them all things 

for which they had striven, 
And the heart of a beast in the place of a man's 

heart was given. . . . 

* • • • • • « 

When they were fullest of wine and most flagrant 

in error, 
Out of the sea rose a sign — out of Heaven a 

terror. 
Then they saw, then they heard, then they knew — 

for none troubled to hide it, 
An host had prepared their destruction, but still 

they denied it. 
They denied what they dared not abide if it came 

to the trial, 
But the Sword that was forged while they lied did 

not heed their denial. 
it drove home, and no time was allowed to the 

crowd that was driven. 
The preposterous-minded were cowed — they thought 

time would be given. 



/ 



ISO THE YEARS BETWEEN 

There was no need of a steed nor a lance to pursue 

them; 
It was decreed their own deed, and not chance, 

should undo them. 
The tares they had laughingly sown were ripe to 

the reaping, 
The trust they had leagued to disown was removed 

from their keeping. 
The eaters of other men's bread, the exempted 

from hardship, 
The excusers of impotence fled, abdicating their 

wardship. 
For the hate they had taught through the State 

brought the State no defender, 
And it passed from the roll of the Nations in head- 
long surrender. 



^ JUSTICE 

October 191 8 

Across a world where all men grieve 

And grieving strive the more, 
The great days range like tides ajid leave 

Our dead on every shore. 
Heavy the load we mtdergo, 

And our own hands prepare, 
I J we have parley with the foe. 

The load our sons must bear. 



Before we loose the word 
That bids new worlds to birth, 

Needs must we loosen first the sword 
Of Justice upon earth; 
151 



152 THE YEARS BETWEEN 

Or else all else is vain 
Since life on earth began, 

And the spent world sinks back again 
Hopeless of God and Man. 

A people and their King 

Through ancient sin grown strong, 
Because they feared no reckoning 

Would set no bound to wrong; 
But now their hour is past, 

And we who bore it find 
Evil Incarnate held at last 

To answer to mankind. 

For agony and spoil 

Of nations beat to dust, 
For poisoned air and tortured soil 

And cold, commanded lust, 
And every secret woe 

The shuddering waters saw — 
Willed and fulfilled by high and low — 

Let them relearn the Law. 



JUSTICE IS3 

That when the dooms are read, 

Not high nor low shall say: — 
*My haughty or my humble head 

Has saved me in this day.' 
That, till the end of time, 

Their remnant shall recall 
Their fathers' old, confederate crime 

Availed them not at all. 

That neither schools nor priests, 

Nor Kings may build again 
A people with the heart of beasts 

Made wise concerning men. 
Whereby our dead shall sleep 

In honour, unbetrayed, 
And we in faith and honour keep 
That peace for which they paid. 



THE END 




THE COUNTRY LITE PRESS 
GARDEN CITY, N, Y. 





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